


Realizations (Part 2)

by aostara



Series: Realizations [2]
Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: Chloe Decker Needs A Hug, F/M, Lucifer Morningstar (Lucifer TV) Needs A Hug, No Smut, POV Chloe Decker, Season/Series 05 Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:33:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27188692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aostara/pseuds/aostara
Summary: An unusual assignment for work and a quiet evening at the penthouse lead to some realizations.  Chloe POV.
Relationships: Chloe Decker/Lucifer Morningstar
Series: Realizations [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1984717
Comments: 19
Kudos: 98





	Realizations (Part 2)

Chloe Decker hated performance reviews. Especially the first one with a new lieutenant. Even before Lucifer, her record had been checkered, to say the least, and she had no idea which side of the ‘good results’ versus ‘follow protocol’ fence her latest boss would land on.

A tap on her desk and a quiet “Chlo, you’re up” startled her from her brooding. She looked up at Dan, catching him in the act of shooting a wary glance toward her partner. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Lucifer’s already tense posture – he had, of course, sensed her anxiety about today’s meeting – stiffen even further. She sighed, the unspoken ‘Not today, guys’ clear to both men. After her kidnapping and the subsequent celestial family drama, Dan had come a long way towards accepting that the church – and Michael – had spent millennia making up self-serving lies about the Devil, but he and Lucifer were still far from being back to their ‘bracelet bro’ dynamic.

Dan gave her a sheepish look before meeting Lucifer’s eyes. “Sorry, man. Stressful day, you know?” 

Lucifer’s haughty expression softened slightly. “Yes, it appears so,” he replied, glancing at Chloe’s hands nervously fidgeting with the paperwork on her desk. “I hope you weren’t raked over the coals too violently by these amateurs, Daniel,” he continued, arching an eyebrow, a twitch of a smile causing his dimples to flash.

Dan huffed a laugh while Chloe stifled a giggle. Leave it to Lucifer to lighten the mood by comparing annual reviews to Hellish torture.

Feeling much more relaxed, which - judging by the way he preened when she grinned at him - had been Lucifer’s intent, Chloe stood and straightened her jacket. Shifting her gaze between the two most important men in her life, she murmured “Play nice,” before heading for the lieutenant’s office with a confident stride.

\-----

Fifteen minutes later she returned to her desk, not sure whether to be amused or irritated. Impressed not only by her close rate, but also her conviction rate since Lucifer had joined the team, the lieutenant was considering adding more civilian consultants to the Homicide roster. Knowing that she didn’t have any active high priority cases at the moment, he’d decided that now was the perfect time for her to put together a summary of their cases together. All of them.

“Bullet points, Decker. Focus on cost/benefit analysis,” he’d said. “You two have a lot of convictions, but also a pile of damage reports and hospital bills. We need to know if there’s a good ROI on bringing in more consultants like Mr. Morningstar.” 

Rolling her eyes, she sank into her chair, propping her elbows on the desk and resting her head in her hands. Since she couldn’t very well explain the real reason their conviction rate was so high, or that the odds of finding anyone else ‘like Mr. Morningstar’ were literally astronomical, now she’d have to spend hours at the station digging through years of case files.

A cup of coffee and a lemon bar appeared between her elbows.

“Do it not go well, darling?” Lucifer asked as she lifted her head. “Because if he gave you anything other than a gold star...”

“It went fine,” she interrupted him, knowing that it was best for everyone involved to nip his protective streak in the bud. “In fact, he was quite impressed with our work.”

“Of course. He’d be stupid not to be. We make an _incredible_ team.” His sultry smile grew as she felt her cheeks flush. “But?”

“But… he’s so impressed that he wants an analysis of all of our cases so that he can decide if bringing in other civilian consultants is a good idea. Which I have to write. Which means my ass and this chair are going to be spending entirely too much time together in the foreseeable future.” Which was certainly not how she’d anticipated spending her downtime during Trixie’s week with Dan.

Chloe watched, bemused, as expressions chased themselves across his face. When he wasn’t hiding behind a façade of arrogant playboy superiority, he was surprisingly easy to read. She understood the pride, the amusement and the annoyance, but was confused when he ended with an anticipatory grin.

“What are you smiling about?”

His grin turning mischievous, Lucifer sat on the edge of her desk before reaching across and picked up her landline receiver.

“Lucifer, what are you doing?”

Holding up a finger in a plea for patience, Lucifer typed in the extension for the Records department, leaving her listening to one side of a conversation.

“Delores? It’s Lucifer. Could you be a doll and have your minions pull the files for all of the cases I’ve worked with Detective Decker? Yes, going back, oh, about five years now. We’ll want to pick them up on our way out today. Some at least, if you can’t get to them all. Yes? Excellent. See you soon. Ta, darling.”

Lucifer hung up her phone while giving her a smug ‘all sorted’ look.

“What was that all about?” she asked, warmed by how dispassionate the endearment he practically purred at her sounded when directed at other people. 

“Why, the new normal, Detective.” Lost, she stared blankly at him. “Paperwork at the penthouse? You work while I drink?” 

“Oh!” She smiled up at him, surprised that he’d remembered her offhanded remark. It had been an eventful evening, after all, what with Dan showing up in a murderous rage and Lucifer suddenly becoming invulnerable again. Her smile dimmed. ‘Damn,’ she thought, ‘I’d been doing so well not thinking about that.’

Lucifer continued in a more subdued tone. “Unless you’d rather not?”

She placed her hand over his and gave a small squeeze, “I’d love to.”

\-----

It was late afternoon when they arrived at the penthouse, Lucifer directing the Lux staff trailing in their wake to place the boxes of files next to the desk while Chloe carried her overnight bag into the master bath to change into something more suited to an evening at home. Unlike Lucifer, simply shrugging off her jacket and rolling up her sleeves weren’t enough for her; after the tension of the day, she was craving her favorite well-worn jeans and oversized flannel shirt. She hummed happily as she changed and freshened up, having arranged things with the lieutenant so that – baring emergencies – she was cleared to work on the report from home for the next couple of days. She still thought the report itself would be a waste of time, but reminiscing about their cases together could be fun, particularly when interspersed with the type of intimate distractions Lucifer was certain to provide.

Back in the main room, her partner had been busy in her absence. A stack of files from their earliest cases had been piled neatly onto one side of the desk, a glass of wine was waiting on the other, and in between lay an executive folio and pen set that probably cost as much as her car, judging by the platinum accents glinting in the light of the desk lamp. Lucifer himself stood next to the desk, fidgeting with his cufflinks and looking uncharacteristically unsure of what to do next.

Touched by his unexpected thoughtfulness and uncertainty, Chloe stepped into his personal space and leaned up to press a kiss to his lips. “Thank you,” she said softly as his arms looped around her, holding her in a loose embrace. 

“You are quite welcome, Detective. Consider it my one and only sacrifice to the gods of paperwork,” Lucifer replied, quickly deflecting her gratitude with humor, as was his wont. “Now, why don’t you get started while I order us some dinner.”

Chloe nodded, giving his chest a fond pat before settling into his decadently comfortable desk chair, opening the folio and pulling the top file off the stack. As Lucifer stepped toward the bar, chatting in Mandarin with the owner of his favorite local Chinese restaurant, Chloe grimaced at the label on the case file. Malcolm Graham. She shuddered, remembering how terrified she’d been – first for Trixie, then for herself, and finally for Lucifer, who had walked away completely unharmed from what she’d initially feared was a fatal gunshot wound.

She froze for a moment, then opened the file, quickly flipping to the evidence photos. The pool of blood where Lucifer had lain was even larger than she’d remembered. And she’d never really believed Amenadiel’s story about Kevlar and special effect squibs. She’d just… let it slide, like so many other things that hadn’t made sense about Lucifer. But he hadn’t been lying or delusional or even just impossibly lucky.

“You died.” She wasn’t sure she’d actually said it out loud until Lucifer turned away from bar and asked her to repeat herself.

“During this case. You _actually_ died. You told me at the time, but I didn’t believe you.” She was in the process of taking a deep, calming breath when Lucifer dropped yet another bombshell. 

“Ah, yes. Our old friend Professor Carlisle.”

“What? No! This is the file about Malcolm… Trixie’s kidnapping.” She paled, not even realizing Lucifer had moved until the mellow burn of his favorite scotch warmed her frozen vocal cords. Carlisle had poisoned her, but Lucifer had saved her, had somehow gotten the formula for the antidote, even though the only man who knew it was already dead. 

“Twice?” she managed to whisper. She stared up into Lucifer’s worried eyes, felt his lips touch briefly against her forehead.

“Twice,” she repeated, half in horror, half in wonder. “You died twice. For me. Because I was close to you.”

“I… well, yes. But, as you say, I did mention it at the time. And, technically, the second time was on purpose,” Lucifer replied, striving for nonchalant but landing closer to defensive.

“On pur...?” Right after the explosion at Jed’s studio, Lucifer had said he’d gone to Hell and back for her twice - Graham and Carlisle?

Chloe shook her head sharply, tears filling her eyes as she mentally reviewed their cases. Lucifer, bleeding out on the floor of the hanger, then again later on the floor of Lux. Lucifer, pleading with her to leave so he could save two boys from poisonous gas. Lucifer, tackling a suspect and ending up with a knife much too close to his heart. Lucifer, carrying her out of a burning restaurant. Lucifer, jumping in front of an axe. Lucifer, nearly strangled by a drug-dealing nurse. Lucifer, paralyzed by a faux serial killer. And on and on. “And all this – stabbings, fires, explosions, shootings.” 

Her voice failed again as a memory of bloody feathers filled her mind’s eye. She reached out blindly for Lucifer’s hand, gripping so tightly her fingers ached.

“Oh. Oh no. Pierce… your wings.”

Lucifer looked down at her, his expression so honest, so vulnerable, that her heart skipped a beat. “Yes, Detective. And I would do it all again if it meant keeping you safe.”

Chloe stood, pulling him into a hug, hands fisted into the back of his shirt. He’d been hurt so many times, yet never hesitated to get between her and danger. The only time he’d been truly safe around her was when they’d been investigating Delilah’s murder. Until now. The bullets from Dan’s gun had done no more damage than the ones from Jimmy Barnes’, and all she’d cared about was how his restored invulnerability affected her. 

“Oh, Lucifer, I’m so sorry,” she murmured into his chest, tears finally escaping her control.

Lucifer wrapped his arms around her, nuzzling her hair. “You have nothing to apologize for.”

She pulled back far enough to look him in the eye. “I do. I’m sorry I was upset about you not being vulnerable around me anymore. I don’t care what it means about your walls, or you not being able to trust me, or… or… anything else.” To Hell with Michael and to Hell with her selfish fears. Lucifer was safe and he was here, with her. That was all that mattered. “Not if it means you’ll never get hurt like that again because of me.”

**Author's Note:**

> Chloe decided she wanted a longer story, which I was fine with because (imo) she has a LOT more realizations to deal with. Plus, we got a little time with Dan.  
> Also, I was really annoyed with Chloe's reaction to Lucifer not being able to be physically hurt around her anymore, so - here's my version of a fix.  
> Part 1 is a companion piece. from Lucifer's POV.  
> There will probably be a Part 3, since we all want to hear him say it, even if she doesn't need it as desperately anymore.  
> And possibly more, since they have a lot of history to reevaluate together.


End file.
